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Darkest Dungeon: Ancestral Edition for Switch (SPOILERS)

Thanks to Red Hook Games for the partnership. All thoughts/opinions belong ro the reviewer. Your experience may differ. This post contains affiliate links.

(Once again, much thanks to Leigh for the review!)

For those who don't already know SPOILER ALERT! Now that we got that out of the way, let's talk about Darkest Dungeon. For this review I'm going to break it down into three different categories: Graphics, Storyline, and Gameplay.

Graphics

Now as far as graphics go, you can definitely see the detail the designers put into the game, from the way the characters are unique in every class to the town which goes from dawn to dusk. While as for my self, I prefer a smoother 3D texture for my games, this does not at all take away from Darkest Dungeon.

If you can get totally immersed into games like I do, then the sounds and visual effects make the game very eerie and suspenseful. They can make you feel like you are surrounded in this dark atmosphere and using your torches is not only to make the fights easier but also relieves some of the pressure. When you use your abilities or get attacked, you feel every curse, strike and shot from enemies. But also you feel the relief from your buffs and heals. For these reasons I give the graphics a 4.2 out of 5.

Storyline

As far as storyline, it is as eerie and as dark as I can get out. I mean the first part of storyline that you ever hear is an old man telling you his tale and then committing suicide. Now I like to have a storyline that has its ups and downs to keep you interested in wanting to find the rest of it but for me, the progression is a little too slow. It gets you hooked in real quick and then kind of lingers on and it's quite some time before finding out more but when it does it again, it pulls you into the story and makes you want to continue. For this I give the storyline a 3.3 out of 5.

Gameplay

The game play, however, if you like difficult games that are very challenging and don't make it too easy for you to progress, this is the perfect game for you. Although I don't like the fact that I have to have several upon several different champions just to be able to play another mission, this is another part of the game that what makes it so intriguing.

While you can upgrade your Caravan in order to get better Heroes that start at higher levels, it's hard to upgrade because you have to run so many different missions just to get the items you need to upgrade it and that goes along with anything else in this town, which again, makes it challenging and that I like.

Each dungeon is very unique in its own way. The progression through the dungeon makes it even more interesting for you have to look for traps, which can be challenging, and you have to keep torches lit in order to see the traps and to make your fights a little easier; and by easier I mean you may surprise monsters when you fight them to make it easier to fight them but if you run out of torches, they may spot you first and get the first strike. But the positive side of doing that and letting that happen is that you get better Rewards.

Now the leveling system in which your characters level up is really a bit slow. I can play six to seven Dungeons and my characters will only be level 2. As far as using spells and abilities, they were great for me, some very weak but I know as it progressed, the spells got stronger and more useful. The fact that you get to upgrade everything in the town made it that more intriguing to keep doing dungeons, but in order to do that you have to have a lot of people because they can start losing health and when they do that you have to put them into a place like the bar or brothel or the cathedral so they can pray in order to relieve the stress that's put on them and heal up but again, that makes the game even more enticing. And based on this I would give the game play a 4.7 out of 5.

I recommend this game for anybody who likes the gruesome, the dangerous, and the eerie. However I would not recommend it for children for obvious reasons. I believe this game was well made well-planned and brilliantly designed and I think it would be a must have for RPG players.

FYI: Darkest Dungeon is digitally available for PS4 and Nintendo Switch. A physical edition for both consoles will be available in March. The physical copy, Darkest Dungeon: Ancestral Edition will include The Crimson Court and Shieldbreaker expansions. (Keep an eye out here for more updates on the physical releases!)

If you're wanting to purchase Darkest Dungeon on PlayStation Network or Nintendo eShop (prices may vary), you can pick up gift cards at the following retailers: